California Cop Who Pepper-Sprayed Students Claims Psychiatric Damage

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A former University of California
policeman who drew widespread scorn for pepper-spraying peaceful
student protesters is seeking worker's compensation for
psychiatric damage he said he suffered in the 2011 incident.

Video footage of then-campus police Lieutenant John Pike casually
dousing student demonstrators in the face with a can of pepper
spray as they sat on the ground at UC Davis came to symbolize law
enforcement aggression against anti-Wall Street protests at the
time.

Pike was suspended and ultimately left the force in July 2012,
but UC officials did not disclose the circumstances of his
departure.

A scathing 190-page report on the incident found that university
officials and UC Davis campus police showed poor judgment and
used excessive force in the confrontation, which was widely
replayed on television and the Internet.

The university last fall agreed to pay $1 million to settle a
lawsuit brought on behalf of the 21 students who got sprayed and
later reported suffering panic attacks, trauma and falling grades
as a result.

Last month, Pike himself filed a worker's compensation claim with
UC Davis over the incident, saying he suffered unspecified
psychiatric and nervous system damage, though the document did
not explain how he claimed to have been harmed, records show.

A judge is scheduled to hear Pike's claim at a worker's
compensation conference in Sacramento on August 13. The case
would likely go to trial if Pike and the police department fail
to reach an agreement, California Department of Industrial
Relations spokesman Peter Melton said on Friday.

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi had asked local prosecutors to
look into possible criminal charges against the police officers
involved in the pepper-spraying. But the Yolo County District
Attorney's office determined there was no grounds on which to
bring a case.

Earlier this week, a state appellate court ruled that newspapers
have a right to publish the names of all the UC Davis police
officers involved in the pepper-spraying incident.